This Morning presenter Holly Willoughby has emerged as ITV bosses hot favourite to replace Ant McPartlin on I'm A Celebrity... Get Me out Of Here.

The 37-year-old presenter is highly coveted by channel bosses, and insiders claim they could be set to make an approach for her to co-host from the jungle alongside Declan Donnelly, as the Mirror exclusively revealed.

It comes not long after Ant McPartlin pulled out of his co-hosting duties - making it the first time he and Dec won't front the show together in the show's 16 years history.

An insider close to the show said: "Holly is very close friends with Ant and Dec and both she and Phil have been backing Ant since his troubles.

"Ant and Dec both love her and I am sure they'd be thrilled if she got the job. They share a management company so Holly already knows what being in the Jungle for weeks entails."

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"Producers feel like whoever replaces Ant needs to be a woman to make a difference to the show, otherwise it would just look like a like-for-like replacement. That would risk it falling short for viewers."

Just two days ago, the Geordie star pulled out of the upcoming I'm A Celeb series on the grounds that he still needed time to recover following his rehab battle.

He was convicted of drink-driving in April after an alcohol-fuelled car crash the previous month, and instructed to pay £86,000 in fines.

Dec joked about presenting I'm A Celeb with Holly Willoughby last year (Image: ITV)

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His and Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway 2019 series has also been pulled from schedule with no show yet announced to replace it.

An ITV spokesman said lots of names have been floated but no official decision has been taken yet about the I'm A Celebrity hosting line-up.

"Ant is clearly making good progress and we wish him all the very best and look forward to him returning to ITV next year. An announcement on I'm A Celebrity plans will be made in due course," he said.

He said: "My recovery is going very well and for that to continue having spoken to Dec and ITV, I have made the decision to take the rest of the year off. I'd like to thank both Dec and ITV for their continued support and I look forward to getting back to work in the new year."

Dec added: "Whilst I am obviously sad at the thought of being without my best friend in Australia this year, I am proud of the work Ant has been doing privately and I am fully supportive of his decision.

"I'm looking forward to us both being reunited on screen in 2019."

In November last year, Dec had even joked that Holly would replace Ant when the I'm A Celeb series returned.